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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Texas BBQ Run - Part 3 (Lockhart, TX)

Our third stop on this Texas BBQ run landed us at Smitty's Market. Founded as Kreuz Market around 1900, it now stands as Smitty's Market since 1999. Originally, the location opened as a German butcher shop that would often smoke any of their leftover meats from that week and sell it to the public on the weekends. Edgar "Smitty" Schmidt bought Kreuz Market in 1948. The story goes that once he passed away he left the Kreuz business to his son, Rick, while leaving the actual building to his daughter, Nina. What he did to make sure his children worked together ended up driving them apart. In 1999, after stories of Nina excessively raising the rent, Rick had enough. He packed up everything, including the coals, and headed down the street where he would open up his own "bigger and better" Kreuz Market. The original Kreuz is now known as Smitty's with the new Kreuz market right down the street. Both are known for their legendary Texas BBQ.

The first thing you notice when pulling up to Smitty's is the massive amount of post oak wood they keep out back. All neatly stacked, and all arranged from oldest to newest. We walked in through the back door straight into the smoke room. You have to wonder how workers manage to stay standing in the constant smoky heat all day. We were only in there for about five minutes and that was about all we could stand. We ordered brisket, pork ribs, sausage, and a pork chop for everyone to try. One of the coolest things about Smitty's is how long it's been around. It still houses some of the original butcher machinery that was used early on. You can still see some of the weighing hooks and sliding tracks in the back near the kitchen that are all most likely original. We grabbed our food and quickly headed out of their infamous "smoke hallway."

I was most excited about their pork chop and ribs. Both did not disappoint. The pork chop was thick-cut, juicy, and tender. The ribs were also fantastic. They separated from the bone with a light tug and had a good amount of smoke and rub. There wasn't a whole lot to say about the brisket and sausage here. I did want to point out that Smitty's had the best BBQ sauce that we tried that day. It was sweet and peppery while also complementing the meats well. Our stomachs were begging us to stop, but we had one last stop on our first ever Texas BBQ run.